Absolute Multimedia, Inc., Austin, TX 2005 - 2008
Art Director, "The Perfect Vision" Magazine (both print and digital editions)
A home theater and electronics magazine
• Conceptualized design themes for features based on content and imagery assessment.
• Analyzed how best to showcase a cover and feature product, based on discussions with publisher on newsstand strategies, and worked on-site with the photographer to achieve effective visuals.
• Designed monthly consumer magazine covers & features in both print and digital formats.
• Worked with electronics company marketing departments at Sony, Pioneer, Definitive Technology and Oppo to arrange for product photography and branding issues.
• Hired and directed illustrators, designers and photographers to provide design support with a key emphasis on maintaining brand identity and magazine design guidelines.
• Managed and inspired design assistant, who made significant strides in design accomplishment and confidence under my direction.
• Responsible for the complete redesign of magazine (print and digital editions), saving the company thousands of dollars in professional design fees.
• Extended magazine brand identity beyond the book including house ads and sister publication ads, trade show signage and web site design elements.
• Oversaw direction of web site and email newsletters, with focus on maintaining brand consistency and identifying articles that have the most impact for the limited space “above the fold.”
• Worked with web developer to create the most effective graphics for online use.
• Evolved the design of the digital magazine edition, which was created exclusively for optimum online viewing— circulation rose from 200,000 to 500,000 due in part to unique screen readability ease, increased navigational functionality and eye-catching graphic imagery optimized for the screen.
• Saved the company $500-$750/month with the purchase of an in-house portable photo studio for shooting pictures of small products in-house rather than at vendor’s studio.
• Created database of PR and Marketing contacts for every major electronics company, including phone numbers, secure URLs and passwords that access company product shot imagery, saving my designer and the editors countless hours in repetitive searches.
• Go-to person for resolving questions about prepress specs, mac troubleshooting and design advice.
CMP Media LLC,Manhasset, NY 2003
- 2005
Senior Designer, Creative Services Dept.
• Discussed all projects with internal clients and external advertisers like IBM, CSC, SAS and HP to learn about their goals and communicate how our design solutions would achieve those goals.
• All assignments taken from concept to production.
• Design and production of sales and marketing ads, magazine supplements, postcards and invitations.
• Redesigned internal job folder sheets to increase efficiency and decrease potential confusion for designers who misinterpret management’s orders.
• Worked with in-house prepress department to establish production procedures for designers, including proper PDF creation and job-naming conventions, saving significant time for both Prepress and design department staff. Internal redo work dropped from 4X a week to virtually never.
Cherry Lane Magazines, LLC, New
York, NY 2003 -
2004
Freelance Art Director, Magazines: “Women
Who Rock,” “Home Recording” and “Music
Alive”
A music magazine and book publishing company.
• Designed monthly consumer magazine covers & features.
• Accepted task of designing two magazines and directing a designer during production on day 1 of job, due to unexpected departure of regular art director, sparing the company a delayed press date, all while maintaining a successful and clean design that conformed to the Cherry Lane style.
• Reviewed illustrator and photographer candidates and hire for various design projects.
• Directed photo shoot of Cyndi Lauper for “Woman Who Rock” cover and feature.
• Redesigned “Home Recording” template to include style sheets and automated features that halved the amount of time it took to build pages.
CMP Media LLC, New York, NY 1999
- 2003
Creative Director, Financial
Technology Network
Formerly Miller Freeman. The Network represents 3 trade
magazine titles and several events.
• Collaborated with art directors on group-wide design initiatives, such as group media kits, ad campaigns and web site design.
• Set meetings with art directors to discuss ideas and make decisions on which ideas to evolve.
• Conceptualized marketing initiatives with marketing director on concepts for ad campaigns, trade show signage and all group-related ideas.
• Prepared final comps and made power point presentations for publishers.
• Directed web designer for creation of three web sites, overseeing all aspects of design and content.
• Conceptualized and designed special trade magazine feature articles, show supplements, custom publications and marketing materials.
• Arranged meetings with partner companies like BearingPoint, IBM, Oracle and Deloitte to discuss design of custom publishing projects and sponsor-related materials for roundtables and trade shows.
• Responsible for conceptualizing and creating look and feel of the group’s most successful annual event throughout my tenure, the I&T Executive Summit in Phoenix, AZ, which included all signage, sponsor booth directory, show guide, crystal awards for top executives, PPT presentation templates, and the logo for the event.
•?Saved $19,000/yr. by pooling printing and vendor resources to achieve quantity-based pricing, whereas previously, various departments assigned large projects to multiple sources.
Miller Freeman, Inc., New
York, NY 1998 - 1999
Group Art Director, Marketing
Dept.
An international publishing and trade show company.
• Met with Marketing Director to assess the group’s marketing needs, and provided input on how best to achieve the goals through design.
• Solely responsible for all of group’s marketing design, from concept through to production.
• Created house ads, press kits and heavy trade show collateral.
• Single-handedly conceptualized and designed high-volume, custom group media kit with input of 5 departments. Media kit held up to 7 magazines, complete with rounded die-cut pull-out informational folders and silver-stamped touches throughout.
• Collaborated with marketing director, PR, publishers, editors and salespeople on all projects.
• Ads and trade shows included work for Wall Street & Technology, PC Expo, SIA and FTE events.
Standard Folding Cartons, Inc., Jackson
Heights, NY 1997 - 1998
Art Director
A commercial packaging printer specializing in the design
and printing of retail packaging.
• Held meetings with salespeople to discuss clients’ packaging design needs.
• Worked directly with CAD designer to create package features, which in turn produced an EPS template that I used to create all designs.
• Tasked with building my own art department with the goal of becoming completely independent of outside vendor needs, which was accomplished in one year, through the purchase of proofing equipment, establishment of a superior archiving model and working more closely with CAD designer and salespeople.
• After restoring proficiency in-house, one-on-one meetings with actual clients took place, officially establishing a true agency experience for the customer.
• Created 1 to 7-color package art for clients like Lipton, Stella D’Oro and Mattel.
• Known for producing the cleanest and most press-efficient art the company has seen from their in-house art department.
• Saved company $27,000/yr. by establishing new prepress contract.
• Retained major client Stella D’Oro with in-house package design, guaranteeing continued profits.
Arista Printing & Computer Graphics,
Mineola, NY 1994
- 1997
Senior Designer
A printing company specializing in the design and printing
of advertorial and marketing pieces.
• Met with restaurant and nightclub owners to discuss their advertising needs
• Directed team of five graphic artists; traffic management and delegation of workflow.
• Created 1 to 5-color art including nightclub invitations, magazine ads, posters, brochures, restaurant menus, office stationary, award cards and various promotional collateral.
• Learned essential prepress procedures and techniques as a result of working in the same building as the printer and prepress department - a rare opportunity for print designers.
• Upon starting first day, lead designer left, forcing me to rise to owners aggressive expectations - probably the single best learning opportunity.
Estée Lauder, Long
Island City, NY 1994
Freelance Designer
Design studio specializing in model photo touch-ups and
design.
• Removed skin imperfections from model head shots via photo manipulation, in preparation for commercial use.
• Model shots were cleaned up and sent to departments who used them for major promotional materials, including Estée Lauder perfume lines and makeup ads
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